BYLAWS OF THE WESTERN BAY FORENSICS LEAGUE AS UPDATED THROUGH 07/01/13

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1 BYLAWS OF THE WESTERN BAY FORENSICS LEAGUE AS UPDATED THROUGH 07/01/13 ARTICLE I BYLAWS Section (1) Section (2) Section (3) These bylaws shall control the administration of the Western Bay Forensics League (WBFL) and set forth the rules pursuant to which tournaments shall be set and conducted. As authorized by the WBFL Constitution, these bylaws may be amended by a majority of the WBFL Council. The President shall provide notice in a reasonably prompt manner to each member school of the WBFL of any amendments to these bylaws and any amendments shall also be posted with these bylaws on the WBFL website. Final interpretation of these bylaws shall rest with the WBFL Executive Council identified in the WBFL Constitution. ARTICLE II FINANCIAL STRUCTURE Section (1) Section (2) Section (3) Each member school shall pay annual dues of $ Dues must be paid on or before the first tournament of the season and shall be assessed with the invitation (and included in fees on Joy of Tournaments) to that Tournament. For schools entered in the tournament, the membership fees will be paid at the time of the tournament entry fees. For schools not entered in the tournament, membership fees should be sent to the League Treasurer. Payment of membership fees is a precondition to membership on the WBFL Council and of participation in League Tournaments. Failure to pay the WBFL membership fee within 30 days of its due date shall be subject to an additional penalty fee of $ All WBFL member schools must also be members in good standing of the California High School Speech Association (CHSSA). Membership in CHSSA is also a pre-condition to participation in League Tournaments. When CHSSA dues are paid by a member school, a copy of the assessment form submitted to the Area III Chair must also be forwarded to the WBFL President with a copy of the check for payment and the date of mailing conspicuously noted thereon. Anticipated Income: (a) WBFL membership dues; (b) WBFL tournament entry fees; (c) Grants and donations; (d) Penalty fees. 1

2 Section (4) Financial Responsibilities (a) The WBFL shall be responsible for all costs involved in hosting WBFL tournaments and activities. (b) The WBFL shall be responsible for all costs which may be incurred by the officers of the WBFL in performance of their official duties (including liaison with CHSSA). Section (5) Financial Credits (a) The First, Second or Third Vice-Presidents shall receive a $50.00 waiver towards entries at any tournament which they set up and run. (b) The Treasurer shall receive a waiver of $50.00 towards entries at each Individual Event League Tournament he or she attends. (c) Each school hosting a League Tournament shall receive a waiver of up to $100 towards entries at that tournament. Any custodial or security expenses incurred shall also be paid to a maximum of $ A greater fee may be approved by the Executive Council, in its sole discretion, if requested. Section (6) The President and the Treasurer of the WBFL shall have signatory authority as to the WBFL checkbook. The Treasurer shall retain and maintain the League checkbook and shall pay for all expenses at each tournament. The Treasurer shall keep a record of all expenses and credits received. The Treasurer shall delegate such responsibilities as necessary to another League Officer and shall provide the checkbook to another League Officer when he/she is unable to fulfill said responsibilities. ARTICLE III TOURNAMENTS Section (1) Section (2) Section (3) School Eligibility: In addition to the pre-conditions to tournament participation set forth above, an adult representative of the school (non-judging) must accompany the squad. This representative may not leave the tournament site and must be available at all times. Where this criterion is not met, the school may be declared ineligible to compete by the Executive Council. Student Eligibility: A participant must be a bona fide student in good standing (GPA 2.0 or better) in grades 9 through 12 of the school he/she represents. The student must not have been in high school for more than 8 semesters, and may not be competing on behalf of any other academic institution. The Executive Council retains the right to deny eligibility to compete to any student(s) found to have violated good citizenship behavior at any League event. This includes, but is not restricted to cheating, unsportsmanlike behavior, lewd or inappropriate conduct while competing, vandalism or commission of any other crime, and disrespect shown to any League coach, judge, employee or student. Section (4) Tournament Classifications: Novice, Varsity, Open (varsity and novice both permitted to enter) or State Qualifying. 2

3 Section (5) Section (6) Section (7) Section (8) Section (9) The Vice-President, or acting substitute responsible for conducting the tournament, shall also be known as the Tournament Director. The coach of the school where the tournament is held shall be known as the Tournament Host. The WBFL Council may approve such procedures and guidelines as it desires by majority vote whether or not it determines to make them a part of these formal bylaws and any such procedures or guidelines shall remain in force until revoked by a majority of the WBFL Council. Any such procedures or guidelines that are not part of these bylaws and existed at the time of the passage of these bylaws shall remain in effect until revoked. Any procedures not provided for in the Constitution or bylaws or the procedures and guidelines set forth in Section 6 shall be left to the discretion of the Tournament Director, the League President, and the Executive Council. The number of entries in a WBFL tournament shall be determined by the Executive Council on the basis of plant facilities alone, except for the State Qualifying Tournament. Tournament Director Responsibilities: (a) Tournament events may be cancelled by the Tournament Director, with the approval of a majority of the Executive Council, if the number of registered entrants does not warrant the holding of the event within three calendar days of the scheduled date of the event and notice of such cancellation shall be promptly provided to all schools that submitted entries to the tournament. (b) The Tournament Director is responsible for maintaining a sufficient number of ballots to run the tournament, for paneling the events in advance, and for bringing all of the required materials to the tournament. The Tournament Director may delegate the responsibility of maintaining a sufficient number of ballots to run the tournament to the Tournament Host; such delegation shall be in writing and it shall also be the responsibility of the Tournament Director in the event of such delegation to advise the Tournament Host of the number of ballots required. (c) The Tournament Director shall determine whether or not a school is meeting the judging responsibilities outlined in these bylaws. If a school fails to meet its judging responsibilities, its entry shall be reduced accordingly or, if additional judges are available, the school may be assessed a judging fee as outlined in these bylaws, all at the discretion of the Tournament Director and League President. Section (10) Section (11) Tournament invitations shall be ed to member schools two weeks prior to the event. Pre-registration shall be in the hands of the Tournament Director and/or his/her designee by the deadline set forth in the Tournament Invitation issued by the Tournament Director. 3

4 Section (12) Section (13) Section (14) Section (15) Entry fees will be assessed for all entries not cancelled before the deadline set forth in the tournament invitation whether subsequently cancelled or not. The WBFL President or his/her designee shall review judging and ethical requirements and event rules with the judging pool at every tournament. All judges are required to attend such instructions unless excused by the League President. Hosting responsibilities rest with the WBFL Council. Efforts shall be made for all member schools to share hosting of tournaments. Tournament Entry Fees: (a) The fees for all entries in all non State Qualifier League Tournaments shall be $8.00 per person entered in Congress or in an Individual Event (IE) (this equates to $16.00 per team for any Duo team) and $10.00 per person entered in debate (this equates to $20.00 per team for any debate team). (b) The Executive Council may set higher fees for State Qualifier Tournaments by majority vote prior to issuance of the invitations for such tournaments with notice of such higher fees to be set forth in the tournament invitations. (By way of information only, Qualifier Fees as of the date of ratification of these bylaws are set at $13.00 per person and $26.00 per team for any Individual Event or Debate Event.) Section (16) Judges: (a) In Novice Tournaments, judges may be high school students with Varsity standing or adults (including recent high school graduates). (b) In Varsity Tournaments and all Open tournaments, judges must be either high school graduates that have been out of high school for at least one year, preferably with extensive speech background or adults, including parents. Each school is responsible for paying its own judges. (c) For I.E. Tournaments, schools must provide one judge for every six entries or fraction thereof. The number of biased judges shall not exceed the number of panels available for biased judges for any school. (d) For Debate Tournaments, each school must provide one judge for every two entries or fraction thereof in events that are not double-flighted (Policy and Parli Debate) and one judge for every four entries or fraction thereof in events that are double-flighted (Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum Debate). (e) Each school entering Student Congress must provide one judge for every ten entries, subject to the requirements of the Congress Tournament Director. (f) Failure of a school to provide the required judges at any tournament may result in disqualification of an appropriate number of entries for that school at the sole discretion of the Tournament Director. Every effort must be made to meet judging requirements because a tournament cannot function if judging requirements are not met. Coaches may not be used as judges (unless required or permitted by the Tournament Director) because they are needed to assist in running the tournament and to chaperone their students. 4

5 Section (17) Novice Tournaments: (a) The WBFL shall host one League Novice IE and one League Novice Debate Tournament in the first semester each year. Additional novice tournaments may be scheduled by majority vote of the WBFL Council. (b) Novice standing is considered separately in Debate and IE. Losing standing in one of these categories does not affect the student s standing in the other. A student is classified as Novice in a given category until such time as he/she has competed in a category for two semesters whether at tournaments sponsored by the League or others or when that student has qualified for the CHSSA State or other national level tournament (TOC or NFL). Attendance at a college-run speech institute in which a competition is held will count as the equivalent of one semester of competition. (c) There shall be a minimum of three rounds of all events at League Novice IE Tournaments and a minimum of three rounds of all events at League Novice Debate Tournaments. One additional round may be added at the Tournament Director s discretion. (d) CHSSA event rules shall apply at all League Tournaments for IE, Debate, and Congress adapted solely as necessary to apply to a three-round tournament. Section (18) Varsity/Open (a) The WBFL shall host one Open IE and one Open Debate in the first semester and two League Open IE Tournaments and two League Open Debate tournaments in the second semester. Additional tournaments, including a tournament for Varsity only or with both Varsity and Novice divisions, if desired, may be scheduled with approval of the WBFL Council. (b) The WFL shall hold four League Open Congress Tournaments, two each semester. Additional tournaments may be scheduled by majority vote of the WBFL Council. (c) Novice competitors may enter Open tournaments. If for any reason a Varsity Tournament is implemented by the WBFL Council, only varsity competitors would be eligible to enter. (d) There shall be a minimum of three rounds of all events at League Open IE Tournaments, a minimum of three rounds of all events at League Open Debate Tournaments, and a minimum of two rounds at League Congress Tournaments. One additional round may be added at the Tournament Director s discretion. Section (19) State Qualifier Tournaments. (a) The three State Qualifier Tournaments must be completed by April 1 st of each year or sooner if dictated by the entry deadline of the State Tournament. (b) All State Qualifier Tournaments shall be run in accordance with CHSSA rules for the State Tournament adjusted only to conform to the variation in the number of entries at the League level versus the State level. 5

6 (c) No student or team may be entered at the State Qualifier unless it is the intent of the student to attend and compete in the State Tournament and that student provides a written commitment to that effect signed by both the student and the parent/guardian of the student to indicate the family s support of the student s commitment. (d) Each student entering the State Qualifier Tournament and the parent/guardian of the student shall sign a form to be designed by the WBFL President which states the following: 1) That the student has a genuine intent to attend the State Tournament whether initially designated as a qualifier or attaining qualifier status through an alternate designation or because all qualifiers and alternates have been exhausted and will make no plans or commitments that would conflict with the State Tournament prior to the State Tournament; 2) That said student s parents will honor the student s commitment and will avoid scheduling conflicting family events that would preclude a student from attending the State Tournament if that student becomes eligible to compete in the State Tournament at any time prior to the State Tournament whether the student was originally designated as a qualifier or alternate or not; and 3) That the student has read CHSSA rules as to the event in which the student is making entry and agrees to comply with said rules at the qualifying tournament and at the State Tournament. Failure to submit the completed form will bar entry of that student from the competition. (e) In order for a student to participate in a State Qualifier Tournament, that student must have participated during the same academic year in at least one regular League Tournament corresponding to the type of tournament the qualifier represents (i.e., if it is a debate qualifier, participation must have previously been in a league debate tournament, if IE, then IE, etc.). (f) If a school enters a student in a State Qualifier Tournament and that student declines to compete in the State Tournament, a $100 penalty shall be imposed upon that school to be paid as a pre-condition to entering any students in any of League Tournaments for the following year. The Executive Council may waive the fee if it is persuaded that the student declined to compete due to an emergency or extreme extenuating circumstances unforeseen at the time of entry in the State Qualifier Tournament. (g) Prior to the commencement of the first Qualifier Tournament, any competitor intending to enter more than one State Qualifier event must complete and submit to the League President a preference form indicating that student s preferred event should that student qualify to go to the State Tournament in more events than the student would be allowed to enter at the State Tournament under CHSSA Rules. An official WBFL form shall be used. Once a student qualifies in that student s preferred event, that student shall not be allowed to enter any subsequent State Qualifier tournament in any event which that student could not legally enter the State Tournament by reason of that student s qualification in his/her preferred State Qualifying event. (For example, if a student s preference was Congress and Congress Qualifier preceded the IE and/or Debate Qualifier, once qualified in Congress the 6

7 student would not be allowed to enter the Debate or IE Qualifier because CHSSA Rules do not permit a student to enter any other event if that student is entered in Congress.) If a student fails to submit a preference sheet, then the student s preference will be determined by the chronological order in which the student qualifies for an event. (For example, if the Congress Qualifier were to occur first and the student qualified having submitted no preference sheet, the student s preference would be deemed to be Congress). If any member of a team event, whether a debate event or an IE event (for example Public Forum in Debate or Dual Interpretation in IE), preference another event, that preference will not be honored over the team event unless both members of the team both preference and qualify for the State Tournament in other non-team events. If a student, after qualifying for State in any given event in which that student is obligated to go by reason of a preference, opts not to go to State in that event (i.e. drops that event) then that student shall not be eligible to qualify for State as an alternate to any qualifying student that drops in any other event. Section (20) Tournament Awards. (a) Only WBFL approved certificates, medals, plaques and/or trophies shall be awarded. Supplying these awards shall be the responsibility of the Treasurer though s/he may delegate that responsibility to a willing designee. (b) The awards at League Tournaments are distributed as follows: (1) For IE, the cumulative (cume) score shall be determined by totaling the competitor s ranks in all rounds. The students with the three highest cumes will receive first, second, and third place trophies with ties being broken when possible (if tie cannot be broken each tied competitor will receive a trophy for the place for which they have tied). All students not receiving trophies but having a cume of six or better will receive a Certificate of Superiority and all students with a cume of 7, 8 or 9 will receive a Certificate of Excellence. Ties for trophies shall be broken according to tiebreakers in the CHSSA Bylaws for determining rank in round and determining competitors breaking into semi-final rounds. Rules not applicable will not be used. Alternate tie-breaking methods may be used as approved by a vote of the WBFL Council, but must be announced prior to the beginning of the Tournament. Whether or not the tie can be broken, the competitor with the next highest total shall receive the award the competitor would have received if there had been no tie. (2) In debate, all students with three wins will receive a trophy and students with only one loss will receive a Certificate of Superiority; if four rounds of debate are held then students with four wins will receive a trophy and students with one loss will receive Certificates of Superiority. (3) In Congress, there will be one First Place Speaker trophy and one Second Place Speaker trophy awarded per house. The next 10% of the speakers by score will receive Certificates of Superiority and the next 20% will receive Certificates of Excellence. A Best Presiding Officer award is given to the student with the best score from the judges in separate balloting. 7

8 (4) Additional awards at any tournament, such as speaker awards in debate, may be awarded with the approval of the Executive Council. (c) At State Qualifier Tournaments, the students placing first, second and third in each event will receive large first, second and third place trophies designating their achievement as League Champions. Each State Tournament qualifying student will receive a medal. Alternates will be announced but will not receive an award. No Certificates will be issued. (d) Sweepstakes Awards: (1) The WBFL shall provide Sweepstake plaques for all tournaments, except for State Qualifiers. At IE Tournaments, the overall Sweepstake plaques shall be for 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd place in Original Events and 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd place in Interpretive Events. At Debate Tournaments, the overall Sweepstakes plaques shall be for 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd place overall (combine all debate events) and depending on the number of entries additional plaques may be given for 1 st place in each of the four debate events in the discretion of the Tournament Director and the Treasurer. In Congress, the Sweepstakes plaques shall be for 1st and 2 nd place. Also, Small Schools Sweepstakes plaques (1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd ) shall be awarded to schools having fewer than ten entries for IE and Congress, and eight entries in Debate. (2) Computation of Sweepstakes for IE shall be pursuant to the following formula: 5 points for first place, 4 points for second place, 3 points for third place, 2 points for a Certificate of Superiority, and 1 point for a Certificate of Excellence. (3) Computation of Sweepstakes in Debate: ten points for each win in Policy and eight points for each win in all other debate events. An additional ten points shall be added for each undefeated team/competitor in all debate events and five points shall be added for each 2 1 (3 1 in four round tournament) tournament score of any team/competitor in all debate events. (4) In Congress, 4 points for First Place Speaker, 3 points for Second Place Speaker, 2 points for a Certificate of Superiority, and 1 point for a Certificate of Excellence. (5) In IE, only the best 3 awards per school, per event are counted. In Congress and Debate, all points are counted. (6) Ties in Sweepstakes will be broken by: (a) Totaling the number of trophy winners from each of the tying schools, (b) Then, totaling the number of Superiority awards, (c) Then, totaling the number of Excellence awards. (d) If the tie cannot be broken, the schools involved in the tie shall each receive the award. Section (21) Ballots (a) Ballots shall be paid for by the WBFL and ordered or prepared by the Tournament Director, except as delegated per the Rules above. (b) Rankings in IE shall be 1 5 in Varsity, and 1 4 in Novice. (c) Ratings shall be Superior, Excellence, Good and Average on the IE ballots. 8

9 (d) Rankings in Student Congress are All others tie at 11. A student who has not made a speech ranks 11. ARTICLE IV TOURNAMENT EVENTS Section (1) Section (2) Section (3) Section (4) All CHSSA eligible events shall be offered at each IE and Debate Tournament; descriptions and rules in the current CHSSA Constitution and Bylaws shall be followed with the sole exception that at Novice IE tournaments, students may use scripts in all events, may use notes in Extemp and Impromptu, and students shall have five minutes of preparation time (instead of two minutes) in Impromptu. Non-CHSSA events may be offered and awards, however no Sweepstakes points shall be given to such events; such events will have their rules published as described in the Appendix hereto. New events may be added to the events offered at Tournaments by majority vote of the WBFL Council. Upon approval of any such events, the Rules for that event shall be posted on the WBFL website. All IE Events shall be divided into A and B Events. A Events currently are Extemporaneous Speaking, Dramatic Interpretation, Expository, Original Advocacy, Oratorical Interpretation, Storytelling and Dual (or Duo) Interpretation. B events are currently Impromptu, Original Oratory, Humorous Interpretation, Thematic Interpretation, Original Prose and Poetry, and Spontaneous Argumentation (SPAR). ARTICLE V Ethics Ethics will be dealt with in the Appendix to these Bylaws. These Amended and Restated Bylaws shall become effective upon their approval by a majority vote of the WBFL Council and upon execution of same by the President and First Vice-President in witness of said approval. Upon approval, these Revised and Restated Bylaws shall supersede and replace the WBFL Bylaws in effect prior to their approval. Dated: July 1, 2013 Dated: July 1, 2013 Sharon James, President Chris James, First Vice-President 9

10 APPENDICES TO WBFL BYLAWS Section (1) Coaches: Ethics: Any breach of the following regulations or any deliberate violations of the rules of the events shall be considered unethical conduct, and Executive Council action may result. Controversies between coaches must be limited to the parties involved, not including students. Controversies between a coach and a student who is not his/her own student will not be tolerated. Any controversy relating to another coach s student with regard to ethical conduct, rule violation, or other issue shall be addressed by reporting such conduct by way of protest to the League President, Tournament Director, or other member of the Executive Council. All available members of the Executive Council shall then meet and act as an Ethics/Protest Committee. Any member of the Executive Council with a conflict of interest shall not participate. In the event that a student is in question, the issue whether to hold any other rounds in which that student may be involved until the particular question of ethics or rule violation has been resolved shall be in the discretion of the Tournament Director and the League President. The Coach initiating the protest or investigation shall have the right to: a) Bring in the person(s) who witnessed the alleged violation. b) Have these person(s) explain the objection. c) Explain why the material and/or behavior is an ethical or rules violation. The Coach of the student in question shall have the right to: a) Bring in the challenged student at the appropriate time. b) Have the student demonstrate the material/behavior. c) Explain why the material/behavior is not an ethical/rules violation. The Executive Council shall have the right to request any of the foregoing or any other presentations or explanations as desired and shall otherwise evaluate and investigate the matter in a manner it deems appropriate. The Executive Council shall meet in private after the presentations by both sides. A decision shall be reached by majority vote of the Executive Council and shall be recorded by the President of the WBFL (or his/her designated representative). The outcome of the meeting shall be announced in the manner and at the time that the League President or most senior officer of the Executive Council participating deems appropriate. However, both of the involved coaches shall be notified immediately of the decision. Section (2) Non-Tournament Ethics: Any request for investigation must be made to the League president in writing. The request must be made by the coach of the principal of the member school. 10

11 The request must specify the violation or complaint. Reasonable notice must be given to all schools involved. The Executive Council shall meet with the member school initiating the request and any other persons involved. Any members of the Executive Council with a conflict of interest shall not participate in the proceedings. Said meeting shall be held without extraneous persons present. Both (all) parties to the discussion shall be heard. The Executive Council shall then meet in private and make a decision. In the event that circumstances warrant, the administrator(s) of the school(s) involved may be notified in writing or in person by the League President. By the unanimous decision of the Executive Council, a student, school or a coach may be suspended from the Western Bay Forensic League for up to a one-year period. Section (3) Amendments to Bylaws The President will have the responsibility to notify members of amendments to the Bylaws and said Amendments will also be posted on the website as part of this appendices. Section 4: League-Only Events The following are the currently authorized League only events: SPAR and Storytelling. Current rules for these events shall be distributed to coaches prior to the beginning of the school year following the passage of these amended and restated Bylaws and any amendments or changes thereafter shall be provided with the Tournament invitation. A copy of the most up-to-date rules for such events will also be posted on the League Website at the end of this Appendix. With respect to SPAR Rules, in Novice Tournaments only the contestants will be allowed to consult notes during their presentations. 11

12 RULES FOR CURRENTLY AUTHORIZED LEAGUE ONLY EVENTS STORYTELLING: A single published, printed story, anecdote, tale, myth, or legend must be retold without notes or props. The delivery must be extempore, not read. No book or script may be used. The contestant must not add original material or change the content of the story. Maximum time limit of ten minutes, with no minimum. SPAR (Spontaneous Argumentation): Students will be paired off in twos going straight down list of competitors. 1 versus 2, 3 versus 4, and so forth. Each pair is orally provided with a resolution to debate, competitors are assigned sides, and then competitors have one minute to prepare. Odd numbers are always affirmative and evens are negative. The affirmative speaker gives a one-minute opening summary in favor of the resolution. The negative speaker follows with one-minute summary against the resolution. The two then spontaneously argue (SPAR) for three minutes there is no set format, just argumentation. After the three minutes of SPAR, the Negative gives a one-minute summary first followed by the Affirmative s one-minute summary. The judge does not decide who wins each pairing, but ranks how well each student does at sparring relative to all others in the round. If there is an odd number of students in the round, a volunteer from among the competitors will debate the last student as a courtesy, but for purposes of ranking, the volunteer s performance in that SPAR will not be considered in ranking him/her. 12